SÃO PAULO, June 26, 2026, 14:05 (BRT)
- Nu Holdings Ltd. NYSE:NU added 6.3% to $13.245 in New York, last quote, on volume of 25.3 million shares.
- Kyle Peterson at Needham started coverage with a Buy on Nu, setting a $17 price target. He pointed to Nu’s Brazil scale and a U.S. launch that could come in the next 12 months.
- Nu picked up around $3.8 billion in market value during the day, close to four times its $1 billion share repurchase plan.
Nu Holdings Ltd. NYSE:NU shares jumped Friday in New York, as a new call from Needham surfaced, putting a price on a new push into the U.S. market for the Brazilian digital bank. The stock changed hands at $13.245, up 6.3% from Thursday’s close of $12.46. Market cap stood at $63.3 billion.
Nu jumped 6.5% as of a 1:01 p.m. EDT FactSet check cited by WSJ, while the S&P 500 added 0.27% and financials gained 0.25%. Volume was 25.2 million shares, running under the 65-day average of 52.3 million, so the stock outpaced the group on thinner trading.
Nu Holdings NYSE:NU got a Buy rating and $17 price target in new coverage from Needham’s Kyle Peterson. Peterson pointed to Nu’s profitable customer base in Brazil and flagged a likely U.S. launch in the next year as a potential growth driver. The target suggests shares could rise about 28% from the last trade.
U.S. exposure is in focus after Nu told investors the new test shouldn’t have a big impact on its model. Back in May, Nu said it aims to keep U.S. investment under 100 basis points on the consolidated efficiency ratio for both 2026 and 2027. That would be inside its target efficiency-ratio range of about 20% for those years.
Nu’s board signed off on a buyback of up to $1 billion in Class A shares over the next 12 months starting June 4. That comes to just around 1.6% of its market cap as of Friday. The stock surged Friday, tacking on about $3.8 billion in market value — showing growth multiples are a bigger factor than the repurchase math.
Nu’s Q1 numbers show why the stock is in play. The company had over 135 million customers at the end of March, with monthly average revenue per active user around $16. About 83% of customers were active. Revenue went above $5 billion for the first time. Net income hit $871 million. Return on equity was 29%.
Nu CEO David Vélez put growth down to credit and AI. “We are not adding AI to banking, we are rebuilding banking around AI,” he said in May. Nu reported its AI Private Banker tools already help over 15 million monthly active users. Nu International
Nu’s credit quality slipped. The 15-to-90-day non-performing loan ratio hit 5.0% in the first quarter, up 89 basis points from the last quarter. Credit loss allowances jumped 33% over the same period. Risk-adjusted net interest margin dropped to 9.5%, from 10.5%.
The stock remains far from its January peak. WSJ lists the 52-week range at $11.20 to $18.98. Shares ended Friday about 30% under the top after the move higher. FactSet puts the average analyst target at $17.41 and rates it Overweight.
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